Loyalists planned to kill Livingstone

Ken Livingstone was minutes away from being assassinated by loyalist hit squads during his support for Sinn Fein as head of the GLC, it was revealed today.

Convicted loyalist killer Michael Stone - who killed three republicans at an IRA funeral in 1988 - today told the Evening Standard that Mr Livingstone was staked out for two days before senior paramilitaries called off the killing.

The London mayor confirmed the story at today's press conference, joking that: "The fact that some people do not like me is not a surprise."

Mr Livingstone said he tightened his security after police warned him that he was on a paramilitary hit list while he was leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 to 1986.

To the fury of loyalists at the time, he was publicly supporting the Republicans as the IRA continued its bombing campaign.

A loyalist hitman stalked Mr Livingstone for two nights and an assassination attempt was called off at the last minute, loyalist killer Mr Stone, 48, told the newspaper.

Mr Livingstone, now the mayor of London, said a team of police officers were sent to warn him of the plot.

"I was kept informed and some measures were taken at the time," he told a press conference at City Hall.

Mr Livingstone added that he prefers not to comment further on his security "because it does not help".

A gunman was sent from Belfast to London. He wore a hood, disguised himself as a jogger and watched Mr Livingstone's movements.

Fears that assassinating Mr Livingstone would lead to "horrific" political repercussions led to the last minute cancellation of the killing, according to Stone, who is currently living at a secret London address.

He claims the man on the paramilitary command council who argued successfully against the murder was a British agent.

Stone stormed the crowd at Milltown cemetery in West Belfast in 1988 at the funeral of three IRA volunteers shot by British special forces soldiers in Gibraltar. Stone was armed with two pistols and seven hand grenades and he shot three men dead as he tried to flee.

He was released from prison under the Good Friday agreement after being sentenced to a total of 850 years in jail and is now working as an artist.

Stone described Mr Livingstone as an easy target. He told the newspaper: "The guy was a gift. He was always the first in at his office and the last out.

"He travelled by Tube - no bodyguards, wide open. A man disguised himself as a jogger, with a hooded top, and he stalked Livingstone for two nights. The call was made to a contact in Liverpool to get the final sanction. That was referred to the council in Belfast and word came back: 'Call it off'."

Stone added: "How do you like the irony? Ken Livingstone is around today because of Special Branch!"

Mr Livingstone later told reporters: "I was told about this 10, 12 years ago, it's not news, and we took precautions at the time but I don't want to go into detail about that."

Asked if he would change his style because of it, he said: "You have a choice, I can be like some other mayors are, always in an armour-plated car, with police outriders and armed bodyguards, or live life as an ordinary Londoner.

"I don't really think that because there's a small group of mad nutters out there, we should change our lives."

Asked if he would change, he said: "No."

He said Sir John Stevens, now metropolitan police commissioner, had been in charge of the investigation at the time.

"He sent a group of Special Branch officers to see me. They turned up on a Saturday evening as I was peeling the potatoes.

"We made some changes to my patterns."

He said the assassination attempt was aborted because those behind it thought it would be unproductive.

Mr Livingstone spoke to reporters at the Britain and London Visitor Centre, in Regent Street, central London, which was being visited by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh today.